Highway-railway grade crossing



Feb. 7, 1950 w. J. MONTGOMERY HIGHWAY-RAILWAY GRADE CROSSING Filed May 15, 194e 2 Sh'ets-Sheet 1 1a 1a 18 15 22d f 221/ 2 25 3K2: .32 f

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mvem'ora WILLIAM J. MONTGOMERY AWLW ATTORNEY Feb. 7, 1950 w. 1. MONTGOMERY HIGHWAY-RAILWAY GRADE CROSSING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 15, 1 9 .6

FIG 1] H6 INVENTOR We LLIAM J. MONTGOMERY BY m i4 ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 7, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE HIGHWAY-RAILWAY GRADE CROSSING William J. Montgomery, Lakewood, Ohio Application May 15, 1946, Serial No. 669,899 1 Claim. (o1. 238--8) This invention relates to highway surface structure at intersections of railways and highways, or in other words, to an improved highwayrailway grade crossing, thus indicating the general object hereof.

Most highway-railway intersections are surfaced or paved with material of substantially rigid or brittle nature, such being exemplified by concrete slabs and cast iron plates. Other types of surface structure are represented by timber emplacements and more or less permanently plastic compositions such as bitumastic paving rolled into place.

When a train rolls over railway rails, the rails deflect under the concentrated wheel loads into somewhat sinuous form; and the ordinary rigid or brittle types of highway surface structure used at grade crossings are not designed to withstand such rail flexure if supported on the ties which carry the rails or on equivalent sub-structure moving with the flexing rails.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide an operatively or substantially smooth, strong highway traffic supporting surface structure which may be strongly supported on' the railroad ties, yet which will withstand the wave action of railway traflic necessarily resulting in relative movement of the ties.

A further object is to provide a strong highway grade surface structure comprising individually rigid grid, grill or otherwise perforate units of wrought metal which will afford adequate drainage of the surface over which the highway traffic moves.

A further specific object is to provide a highway surface structure of grid or grill unit form which will have the operating characteristics of rigid surfacing, but with ability to withstand rail fiexure although mounted on relatively movable sub-structure elements supporting the rails.

A further object is to provide a wrought metal rigid unit surface structure capable of affording a substantially smooth highway surface, adequate drainage for said surface and with provision for relative movement of the individual units as mounted on conventional railway ties without imposing destructive strains upon the units and without interfering with the normal wave motion of the rails under load.

, Other objects and features of the-invention will become apparent from the following description of the several suggested forms shown in the accompanying drawings. The essential characteristics are summarized in the claim.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a short section of a highway-railway intersection, the view showing diagrammatically one arrangement of grill structure embodying principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross sectional view as indicated at 2--2 on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation showing portions of the highway surface structure and the ends of associated ties;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view showing one form of support for grate or grill elements of the highway surface structure hereof;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken in a plane such as represented by the line 5-5 on Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing one of the grillelements according to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view showing four interconnected highway surface grill elements or portions thereof in a modified form;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken as indicated at 88 on Fig. '7;

Fig.9 is a partly sectional side elevation of the assembly according to Fig. '7;

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary plan view of a composite highway surface unit designed for support in accordance with any of the preceding views;

Fig. 11 is a side elevation showing the construction according to Fig. 10 when viewed in the direction indicated at ll-ll on Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view on the order of Fig. 9 showing a further modified con 'struction. I

The term grill as used herein refers to any road-traffic-supporting means providing adequate openings for water drainage.

In Figs. 1 and 2, several railway ties l and a pair of rails 2 are illustrative of conventional practice. The ties may be of the usual or any suitable form or material. Such ties form the main support for the highway grade surface structure hereof. The rails may, as usual, be provided with guard strips 3 and d of substantially the usual form as shown particularly by Fig. 5, the top surfaces of the strips being flush with the wheel contacting or ball portions of the rails 2. Wheel flange troughs are provided in the strips 4 as at 5, Fig. 5; and the railsmay rest on the ties through the intermediary of bearing plates such as indicated at 6.

Main supports for the highway surface struc ture hereof preferably comprise angle or T-rnembers, the former being shown at l8. having upright flange or web portions H and respective horizontal flanges 12 to rest on and be secured to the ties as by studs or bolts, head portions of which are represented at it. The upright flanges ll of the main supports it) carry suitable bracket elements 15 which are rigid with. the respective flanges H. The bracket elements may be made as circular centrally perforated discs struck from relatively heavy sheet or plate metal stock welded as at It in spaced parallel relation to each other along the top edges of the flanges H. The apertures 11 of the bracket elements I5 receive grate supporting cross rods such as l8 extending serially through the apertures 11 and secured in place in the composite grill supporting structure as by welding (not shown) or by threaded fasteners such as nuts indicated at 20. The supporting rods l8 which lie between the guard strips 4 could substantially abut those guard strips to retain the rods in position. The grill supporting rods l8 of any particular group of grill bars may be welded to any one of the sup porting bracket elements I5 adequately to secure the rods 18 in place. The supports Iii-l8 are preferably provided, as indicated diagrammatically on Fig. 1, across the entire spaces between the adjacent guard strips 4 and also outwardly across the projecting end portions of the ties beyond the guard strips 3 as also partially indicated in Fig. l. The same system is used for multiple track railways which may, however, have any sort of highway surface arrangement between adjacent sets of ties. The grill bars 22 (described later) have their end portions received more or less snugly in the spaces between adjacent bracket elements l5,. one grill bar extending in one direction, parallel to the rails 2, from the connecting supporting rod is and the other in the opposite direction. Thus the grill bars lie in alternating overlapped. arrangement and all the grill bars are approximately uniformly spaced apart.

For convenience, in Fig. 3, two of the grill bar supporting rods [8 are indicated lBa and 81) respectively and the associated supporting angles Illa and [0b. The grill bars of this particular construction are identical flat wrought metal (e. g. rolled steel) strips, one being fully shown at 22', Fig. 6. Each grill bar has a generally circular opening 23 at one end and a slot 24 open axially of the associated bar in alignment with the opening 23 thereof on a central axis parallel to the upper and lower edges 25 and 26 respectively of the bar. The distance between the throat or closed wall portion 21 of each slot and the nearest edge of the opening 23 is less than the spacing between adjacent supporting rods such as 18a and Nb, Fig. 3, as supported on the ties. Thus, with the positions of the grill bars, lengthwise of the railway, determined or fixed as by approximate fitting of one red (e. g. lBa) in the openings 23 of one transverse series of bars along the ties, the throat or closed wall portion 21 of each of the slots of the same series clears the associated supporting bar I822 by an ample margin sufiiciently so that all the supports [0 are free to move in a direction parallel to the rails with their ties the amount required by the maximum flexure of the rails. under train loads and without placing any of the grill bars either into tension or compression during such fiexure.

As rail flexure occurs, the ties underlying the point of application of the load sink somewhat into the supporting roadbed, and the relatively adjacent ties on each side rise correspondingly from their supporting bed which momentarily and alternately separates and brings together relatively adjacent ties distances proportional to the applied load. Thus the distances between the supporting rods l8 necessarily change each time a pair of truck. wheels roll over the rails 2. On curves the relative movement of ties at one side of the track may be difierent from the relative movement occurring at the other side of the track, so that compound movements of the ties must be allowed for in designing the structure.

The relative proportions of the holes and slots 23 and 24 are such that any expected degree of movement as outlined above will be accommodated. It is not necessary that open slots such as 24 be provided, but such arrangement greatly facilitates installation of the grill bars on the supporting structure. The slots 24 could be closed or each bar could have a pair of closed slots (not shown).

Assuming a series of grill bars such as partially represented at 22a, Fig. 3, has been assembled onto the associated supporting unit Ilia, Mia and with the supporting rods 58a in place in the openlugs 23 of that series, the grill bars of the next adjacent series 221) can then be easily assembled onto the rod l8a by endwise movement of the individual grate bars to be connected theretoi The opposite ends of those grill bars 222), each apertured as at 23, are then placed temporarily into positions between respective pairs of bracket elements l5, while the main support til thereof is held in a raised position such as will enable the cross bar I82) to be thrust through the bracket elements 15 and the openings 23 of such series 2222 and secured in place. Fastening of the main support lilb onto the associated tie is the final step in installing the series of grill bars 22b. That is, of course, accomplished before the grill bars as at 220 are assembled into the bracket elements supporting the rod 131). The assembly system described above is repeated throughout the installation.

The end grill bars, the positions of which are indicated at 22d, Figs. 1 and 2, may be of special shape as shown by Fig. 2, wherein the outer end of one bar at 22d is shown as bevelled at 28 to rest on the tie farthest to the left in Fig. 2. Thus, the bars at 22d form a finishing ramp for the ends of the stretch of highway surfacing. The ends of the terminal grill bars be protected by suitable metal guard strips 3:) and 3t, Figs. 1 and 2. The guard strips are all of identical cross section but of appropriately different lengths. The openings in the ram bars 22d for receiving the associated supporting rods 53 are preferably holes 23 at one end of the highway surface structure (longitudinally of the rails) and, at the other end of the stretch (not shown), the ramp affording grill bars preferably have slots 24, although they might have either type of rod-receiving opening.

It will be apparent from the above that the construction afiords ample rigidity for supporting highway traific while enabling any expected amount of relative motion between the ties and while enabling adequate drainage for water from the supporting surface at all points. Additionally, the grill work enables ready inspection of the ties at all times and the connections of the main highway surface supports it thereto, as well as other portions of the railway and roadway intersection.

Referring to Fig. 7, this shows one alternative construction in which the grill bars 32. elements of one series of which are designated 32a and elements of an adjacent series 3121). In this modification, the bars have a conventional structural shape represented as an I-bearn section and, as best shown in Fig. 9, the web 34 of the I-beam is extended beyond the flanges 35 and 3'5 at one end as at 37 and that end has an open slot at 38. The opposite end of the web is extended at 39 beyond the flanges and provided with (e. g.) a suitable opening 10 large enough freely to re 7 ceive the supporting rods 18. The supports i0 are provided with longitudinally spaced bracket elements l5 as in the previously described construction but, depending upon the transverse amplitude of the flanges 35 and 38, the bracket elements I5 can be made of greater extent axially of the openings ll thereof. Otherwise, the construction and manner of assembly of the grill bars according to Figs. 7 to 9 inclusive are the same as previously described and the highway traffic supporting surface has uniform drainage but greater rigidity.

I also contemplate provision of grill (1. e. drainage affording) units of composite form in place of the individually movable grill bars heretofore described. One form of such modified unit construction is partially shown at M in Figs. 10 and 11. In Fig. 10, the parallel grill bar elements are joined to grill bar elements 48 of zig-zag form as by welding at ll. Such construction forms an already known type of grill unit. The end positions of some of the bars ll: and 46 are, as shown, extended as at 68 and '19 beyond the main portions of the units M for connection with the supporting rods l8. All the extensions 48 and 49 are provided either with open slots 50 or holes 51 respectively to receive the rods IS.

The units 44 are designed to extend transversely of the rails (e. g.) for the entire distance between the guard strips l or any desired shorter distance in multiples of the distance to be spanned. Shorter units would, of course, be made for installation over the ends of the ties. Composite grill units operatively similar to that of Figs. 10 and 11 can be made up from round, square, hexagonal or other shaped wrought metal bar stock or combinations of different shapes.

The modification shown in Fig. 12 difiers principally from the previously described modifications in that the grill units are identical wrought metal plates 80 suitably. apertured for water drainage and with their edges which extend transversely of the rails, or in other words parallel to the ties l, adapted to interlock with supporting brackets exemplified by the upwardly open rolled metal box sections 92. The plates 60 could be of any desired width crosswise of the tracks, for example, from guard strip (4) to guard strip l) between the rails or in mutually abutting sections adequate to fill in the space between the guard strips. Outwardly of the rails, the

plates would ordinarily be of such width cross-o wise of the tracks as to cover the outwardly projecting ends of the ties.

The perforations 83 of the plates may be of any desired character and the plates may have relatively raised and depressed surface efiects (not shown) to minimize skidding of highway traffic. Each plate has at one edge an openly folded hook formed by a flange 64 in spaced relation to the under surface of the plate a sumcient distance so as to receive an attaching inturned flange 85 of an associated supporting bracket. Each bracket 52 has a pair of inturned flanges 65 spaced as at 95'. At intervals the flanges may be farther separated than as shown (i. e. cut back from their free edges) in order to provide more working space between the flanges 65 for attachment of the brackets to the ties as by lag screws 98. The end of each grill plate opposite from the hook flange E l has a downwardly turned flange portion 68 terminating in a depressed reversely curved lip or flange portion 69 adapted to underhang the hook flange 64 of the adjacent plate so that the proximate edges of each two adjacent plates throughout the surface treatment are held in position by the supporting brackets 82. The design, as will be apparent, is such that the plates are enabled to swing transverse to their principal planes the required distances so that relative movement of the ties under successively applied loads will be unrestrained by the highway traffic supporting treatment and without subjecting any portion of the treatment to destructive strains.

To assemble and secure the grill units and supporting brackets 62 in the construction according to Fig. 12, the procedure is as follows: Assume that the grill plate in position Gila has been fully secured at its left hand end (not shown) and that the bracket at position 62a has been secured to the tie la by lag screws 08 as by a socket wrench passed downwardly between the flanges 05. That will have required sliding of the bracket 62 first to the left on its supporting tie (compare bracket position 62b) and then to the right to the illustrated final position (62a) at which the screws 86 are driven into the underlying tie. The grill plate in position 6% is then swung upwardly at its right hand edge until the reversely curved portion 69 of the flange 88 can be passed downwardly between the adjacent flange and aheady positioned hook flange 64 of the plate at position 60a. The cooperating bracket 62, at 62b; is temporarily placed in the position illustrated at the right in Fig. 12, enabling the hook flange 64 to be dropped into place as illustrated. Said bracket (at 621)) is then slid to the right and secured as already described.

I claim:

In combination with railway rails and individually movable ties carrying the rails and fixed thereto, rigid supporting members secured rigidly to the ties, and a plurality of rigid metal elements having their entire top surfaces permanently substantially flush with the tops of the rails, thereby being adapted to support highway crossing traffic without substantial deflection of the elements while rejecting water from the traffic supporting area thereby presented, said elements bridging the ties longitudinally of the rails, each element having a sliding connection with the supporting member of an adjacent element whereby to enable horizontal relative movement of said elements, said sliding connections also securing the elements and supporting members together in a manner to prevent substantial vertical relative movement of said elements and the associated supporting members.

WILLIAM J. MONTGOMERY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 431,119 Merrill July 1, 1890 432,175 Balch July 15, 1890 601,237 Brown Mar. 29, 1898 968,353 Herring Aug. 23, 1910 1,210,806 Inman Jan. 2, 1917 1,562,147 Campbell Nov. 17, 1925 2,193,287 Lewis et al Mar. 12, 1940 2,315,180 Arthur Mar. 30, 1943 2,360,933 Bunker Oct. 24, 1944 

